China denies government had anything to do with latest Gmail hack

Google’s Gmail service has been hacked again with emails of Chinese activists and even some US government official’s accounts being hacked. Google has again pointed the finger at China stating that the source of the attacks was an area of China where the government has operations. The Chinese government has fired back and says that allegation of hacking are unacceptable. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei said, “Saying that the Chinese government supports hacking activity is entirely a fabrication.”

The WSJ points out that Google didn’t specifically claim that the Chinese government was involved in the recent attack, it simply pointed out that the area the attack originated from is known to be the home to the People’s Liberation Army national security branch. The PLA also recently confirmed that the cyberspace unit of the PLA actually exists. The branch dedicated to cyberspace is known as the Blue Army to set itself apart from the Red Army nickname of the normal Chinese military.

Google announced this week that hackers based in the Shandong province of Jinan were responsible for the phishing emails that were meant to give the hackers access to user email accounts. There is still some feeling that the attacks on Google are related to the fight Google had with the Chinese government over censorship. Google gave up on that battle after it was clear that the Chinese government wouldn’t allow it to operate in China is it uncensored search results. China is a major market for search and advertising.